Onee-san Romantic Laboratory

Onee-san Romantic Laboratory

The episode is divided into two parts. In the first, Roman tries to help teach a new member of her manga club on how to become an aspiring manga artist by creating her very own hand-drawn manga-like handbook, however her crappy drawings seem to do more bad than good. In the second part, Remi's clumsiness is causing her to cast doubt on her ability as a teacher, however she later learns that with her strengths and passion, she can do more than she can imagine.

Plot Summary

Opening Theme

"Graffiti" by Gackt

Part 1: Roman's Craptastic Manga Laboratory

Roman says this isn't good enough for manga

Roman analyzes Fumi's detailed drawing to determine whether she has the talent necessary to join her shoujo manga club and become an aspiring mangaka. Despite the amazingly realistic features in her drawing, Roman tells her that it doesn't suit a manga but admits that she has some potential. Wanting to help Fumi in some way, Roman creates her very own manga-like handbook to teach her how to make a proper manga. However, as she exits the room in excitement, Roman bumps into Sket-dan and decides to ask for their opinion on her idea and presents her hand-drawn manga to them. Although Himeko and Bossun seem less then optimistic at having a look at her poorly drawn pictures, they decide to give it a shot.

Roman begins to explain the story whereby it tells about a boy who aims at becoming a manga artist named HetaP-kun. It starts with Roman, a famous manga artist, walking down the street and getting attacked by a monster when the boy sees her and tries to call the police to help. However, Roman uses her G Pen, a common drawing tool used by manga artists, to stab the monster which causes it to run off in pain. Realizing the potential of such a pen, the boy gets inspired to become a mangaka. Himeko in response, however, starts to display her frustration at Roman's ridiculous story, saying that it has nothing to do with manga and fails to show how a manga artist becomes motivated. Nevertheless, Switch says that Roman's knowledge of manga is undeniable which persuades Himeko and Bossun to read further.

On the next page, Roman lists all the tools used by a manga artist but Himeko and Bossun begin to express their anger saying that the patterns in the background aren't unnecessary and that too much is happening on one page making it difficult to follow. Roman disregards this and goes on to explaining the most important tool of a manga artist, the pen. As she emphasizes the importance of the type of pen one should use, how it should be properly held, and one's posture, her expertise diminishes upon drawing a very crooked line. Not at all fazed by this, Roman goes to the next step which is drawing faces. In her story, she demonstrates how faces can be drawn, however, the faces she draws are less than aesthetically pleasing, including her version of Bossun. Switch, unpleased with her drawing of Bossun, shows his own, but to Bossun, neither are close to portraying him accurately. Next, Roman teaches the basics in creating an interesting character. According to her, there are two types of main characters, those that are looked up to and those that a person empathizes with, with the latter being the most common in shounen manga. The reason being is that the reader can put themselves in the main characters' shoes. To demonstrate, Roman creates a fictional female character who goes to a Monster Academy and daydreams of finding her prince charming with Himeko asking how she can empathize with that.

Bossun's Portraits by Switch & Roman (respectively)

Roman finally goes to the last step which is making the story. She explains that situations in a story is very important in manga in that creating a setting for characters that makes people look up to allows their feelings to collide. She provides an example with a story where a transfer student notices a familiar boy in class and wonders how he survived, only later to reveal that she was the one that tried and is willing to try and kill him again. Despite Bossun and Himeko displaying their outrage over her absurd story, Roman concludes her lesson as she reveals that the two characters somehow end up falling in love. She then excitedly leaves, anxious to give her manga handbook to Fumi with the Sket-dan admiring her caring efforts to help others, even if her drawings aren't the best. Later that day, Fumi comes to Sket-dan and asks them to teach her how to draw again after her drawings got crappier from reading Roman's "Craptastic Manga Laboratory".

Part 2: Do Your Best, Onee-san!

Remi's Japanese history lesson involves a samurai in ice skates

Chuuma proudly observes Remi as she teaches her class and recalls him giving her words of encouragement before she headed off to teach Japanese history, however, Remi gets most of the history facts wrong as she lectures her students about an important Japanese war in 1560 that, according to her, involved firearms. During lunchtime, Remi sits with Sket-dan who tell her that not only are her facts terrible but her kanji pronunciations as well. In response she says that its normal to screw up and that it won't bring her down, but this changes as she realizes that she forgot to include some rice in her boxed lunch. Soon after, Remi looks down in disappointment and admits to herself that she's no good. Although Bossun concurs, he adds that despite her many problems, he nonetheless likes her classes. Himeko also says that there's something about her classes that pulls them in and makes them fun which instantly cheers her up.

Remi's treasured momento, Specter

Later that day, Remi helps out her students clean the classroom but her clumsiness ruins it hence she decides to change the water in the flower vase but confuses it with her bag. Bossun suddenly recognizes the doll on her bag from a children's television show with Remi explaining that its a character that appeared in a puppet segment from a show called Specter and is a ghost that wonders the earth for reasons she doesn't want to reveal. Trying to avoid the backstory of the doll, Bossun and Himeko ask if its really that important to which Remi answers that it is since it was a gift she received when she graduated from the program. She then begins to abuse the doll, thinking that its a chalkboard eraser, and mistakenly throws it out the window thinking it was the ball that had been accidentally thrown into the classroom by a baseball player. As they try to recover the doll, a dog takes it and runs off.

Specter, The Chalkboard Eraser and Baseball

Remi tries to cheer up the children with a puppet show

As they search for the dog, Remi begins to ask Sket-dan if she's a bad teacher whose only full of mistakes and trouble and questions whether she has any strengths. Just then, they hear a group of children crying from a distance and notice them crowding around Suemasu, a kindergarden teacher, who sprained her ankle. Having injured her leg, the children start to panic, forcing Remi to take action. She removes her stocking, to the Sket-dan's shock, and turns it into a puppet, which begins to cheer the children up. She then plays some activities with them while Bossun contacts the preschool and informs them about the situation, with the Sket-dan eventually joining in on the fun. Once the school bus arrives, the children thank Remi and give her a toy they picked up which happens to be her doll Specter. Happy and full of confidence, she accidentally throws Specter again, causing her to fall into a state of depression. Later that day, Chuuma enters the room and gives her her doll, Specter, which causes her to jump in surprise and accidentally slam her head against his jaw. Albeit in slight pain, Chuuma tells her that its alright seeing as how a lot happened, and tells her to do her best.

Closing Theme

"Milk to Chocolate (ミルクとチョコレート)" by ChocoLe

Points of Interest

• Roman kept repeating some lines from her manga handbook for a more dramatic effect.
• Roman's crappy drawing seems to rub off on others, including Fumi.
• Switch's drawing of Bossun is slightly better than Roman's version.
• Roman has great knowledge about mangas despite her poor drawings.
• A pen is a manga artist's most important tool, more particularly the G Pen (according to Roman).
• Remi's treasured momento from her graduation is a blue ghost doll called Specter.
• Remi is an extreme klutz and tends to be absentminded at times.
• Remi accidentally threw Specter twice.
• Both Remi and Roman did the gloom lines, and SKET Dan are the ones who find them.

Manga & Anime Differences

The first story of the episode covers Chapter 55, Hetappi Manga Kenkyujo R, of Volume 7

The episode's second story covers Chapter 73, Do Your Best, Onee-San, of Volume 9.

• The beginning for the first part of the episode was altered in the anime. In the manga, Roman runs and trips outside on the school grounds and asks the Sket-dan to help her find her manuscripts. The manga did not show Fumi's drawing either.
• In the manga, Roman advertises the third volume of Sket Dance.
• In the manga, Roman gives the G Pen to Himeko so she can give it a try whereas this does not happen in the anime.
• In the manga, Remi hits Bossun when he tries to stop her from hitting Specter with a ruler whereas in the anime, she doesn't.
• Chuuma's words of encouragement, both in the beginning and the end of the episode, to Remi didn't occur in the manga.